Taiwan Government faces 5 Million hacking attempts daily

Taiwan ‘s government agencies face around five million cyberattacks and probes every day, most of them from China.

Around five million cyber attacks hit Taiwan’s government agencies every day, and most of the hacking attempts are originated from China.

Cyber security department director Chien Hung-wei told parliament representatives that government infrastructure faces “five million attacks and scans a day”. 

“We are strengthening the government’s defensive measures and collecting relevant data for analysis in a bid to stop the attacks when they are initiated,” Chien told lawmakers.

Taiwan’s defence ministry warns of an increase in the attacks carried by China-linked actors against its systems.

The attacks against the country attributed to China raised since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who always claimed the independence of the island from Beijing. On the other end, the Chinese government considers the island its territory and does not exclude its military occupation in the future.

The ministry’s information security and protection centre handled around 1.4 billion “anomalies” from 2019 to August 2021, according to the report shared by Taiwan’s defence ministry.

In August 2020, Chinese hackers gained access to around 6,000 email accounts belonging to at least 10 Taiwan government agencies, officials said.

According to a top Taiwan cyber official, the attacks were part of a cyber espionage campaign. According to the Taiwan Investigation Bureau’s Cyber Security Investigation Office, the China-linked cyberespionage groups tracked as Blacktech and Taidoor have been targeting government agencies and information service providers since 2018. 

The Chinese government has increased diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan over the years, it also showed the muscles increasing military drills near the country in recent weeks.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Taiwan Government)

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